[
UK
/lˈuːsən/
]
[ US /ˈɫusən/ ]
[ US /ˈɫusən/ ]
VERB
-
become less severe or strict
The rules relaxed after the new director arrived -
make loose or looser
loosen the tension on a rope -
make less dense
loosen the soil -
make less severe or strict
The government relaxed the curfew after most of the rebels were caught -
become loose or looser or less tight
The noose loosened
the rope relaxed -
disentangle and raise the fibers of
tease wool
tease wool -
cause to become loose
untie the knot
undo the shoelace
loosen the necktie
How To Use loosen In A Sentence
- Better to wait until bubbles burst and manage the consequences, softening the economic blow by loosening monetary policy very quickly.
- While the report recognised that Health Secretary has made some moves to decentralise the running of health care in England, experts claim the Scottish Executive is refusing to loosen its grip on the NHS.
- The looseness of the journalistic life, the seeming laxity of the newsroom, is an illusion.
- But, more likely, he has decided it is less of a PR risk to leave a journalist eating a solitary crab pasty in the drizzle than to be trapped alone with her and - God forbid - a tongue-loosening bottle of wine.
- It was only when he loosened up in the latter stages of the fourth set that he really ran away from me. Times, Sunday Times
- Further, with this requirement Japanese Baptists had to loosen the requirement of believer's baptism by immersion and tolerate various other baptismal traditions.
- Insert a small knife into the top of the chicken breast to loosen the skin.
- It will be a mortal blow if there is a single palm missing on Monte Chiaro or if a single stone has loosened from the town wall. The Miracles of Antichrist: A Novel
- You can put the pan on a gentle heat to loosen the fruit if necessary. Times, Sunday Times
- In cases of recent wounds unattended by inflammation, it may be applied freely; but when inflammation has come on, too severe an application of the caustic induces vesication of the surrounding skin, and the edges of the eschar may in this manner also be loosened and removed. An Essay on the Application of the Lunar Caustic in the Cure of Certain Wounds and Ulcers
